HACK Vopt 9.XX Registration File ^NEW^
Product Installation and Licensing Information For brief instructions about product installation please visit the "install_notes" file in www.model.com. The install_notes file can be viewed at: For detailed information about product installation, supported platforms, and licensing, see the ModelSim Installation & Licensing Guide. The manual can be downloaded from: How to Get Support For information on how to obtain technical support visit a support page at: Release Notes Archives For release notes of previous versions visit the release notes archive at: or find them in the installed modeltech tree in /docs/rlsnotes Index to Release Notes Key Information User Interface Defects Repaired in 6.3 Verilog Defects Repaired in 6.3 PLI Defects Repaired in 6.3 VHDL Defects Repaired in 6.3 FLI Defects Repaired in 6.3 VITAL Defects Repaired in 6.3 SystemC Defects Repaired in 6.3 Assertion Defects Repaired in 6.3 Mixed Language Defects Repaired in 6.3 Coverage Defects Repaired in 6.3 General Defects Repaired in 6.3 Mentor Graphics DRs Repaired in 6.3 Known Defects in 6.3 Product Changes to 6.3 New Features Added to 6.3
Key Information PLATFORM SUPPORTSUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 is supported as of the 6.3 release. The support includes the following platforms: 32-bit linux. SystemC is supported on this platform with gcc-4.0.2-rhe21. 64-bit linux_x86_64. SystemC is supported on this platform with gcc-4.0.2-linux_x86_64.
RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 is supported as of the 6.1b release. The support includes the following platforms: 32-bit linux 64-bit linux_x86_64
Solaris OS 10 is supported as of the 6.1a release. Solaris 10 has the following limitations: In the OS, vt alarm is producing irregular and random beats between 20ms and 100ms. As a result, the profiler produces the error message, "Too few samples." To workaround this problem, add the following line to the file /etc/system and reboot the system:set hires_tick=1This will produce consistent sample times. The minimum sample time will be 20ms. This problem has been filed as Sun CR 6290459 and will be fixed in a coming kernel patch. With the patch, the minimum sample time will be approximately 10ms, as in previous Solaris releases. In rare cases, simulations using sockets via the FLI may hang the system and produce a messages like "nfs server array not responding" may be produced. This problem has been filed as Sun CR 6296698. In Solaris 10, g7 is always reserved. Any PLI/FLI/DPI using g7 will break under Solaris 10.
The EM64T is supported as of the 6.0b release. The support includes EM64T machines loaded with Suse 9.1 OS or RedHat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 3 OS and the following linux configurations. 32-bit linux 64-bit linux_x86_64 FlexLM v8.2a (which was shipped in 6.0x) is not supported on an EM64T machine loaded with Suse 9.1 OS.
The following 64-bit platforms are supported as of the 6.0 release. The 64-bit simulator is supported on the AMD Opteron and compatible processors running 64-bit Linux (SuSE 9.0 (x86-64) or RedHat Enterprise Linux WS release 3) as the linux_x86_64 platform. The profiling feature is not supported in 64-bit mode. The 32-bit simulator for the linux platform may also be installed and used concurrently on these systems.
Designs with SystemC content have different platform and operating system dependencies then designs without SystemC content. The following platforms and operating systems are supported for designs with SystemC content: RedHat 7.3 and greater RedHat EWS2.1/7.2 and greater (simulation environment version 5.8b and greater) Solaris 8, 9, and 10 HP-UX 11.0 and greater Win32 XP and 2000 (Simulation environment versions 6.0 and greater)
The following platforms will be discontinued as of the 6.4 release: RedHat 2.1
The following platforms are discontinued as of the 6.3 release: HP-UX Platforms - hp700, hppa64 AIX Platforms - rs6000, rs64
The following platforms are discontinued as of the 6.2 release: Windows 98 Windows ME Windows NT 4.0 Solaris 2.6 Solaris 7 HP-UX Itanium AIX 4.3
The following platforms are discontinued as of the 6.0 release: RedHat 6.0 through 7.1 For a complete list of supported platforms see the Install Guide under the section Supported platforms. COMPILER AND DEBUGGER SUPPORT SystemC has dependencies on C++ compiler versions. The following gcc compilers are support for SystemC: As of release 6.3, the linux versions of gcc 3.2.3 and 3.3 compilers will be replaced with version 4.0.2. This means that gcc 3.2.X and 3.3 will not be supported or distributed as of release 6.3. Only the following versions will be supported in 6.3: gcc-3.3.1-mingw32 gcc-4.0.2-linux_x86_64 gcc-4.0.2-rhe21 gcc-3.3-sunos58 gcc-3.3-sunos59 gcc-3.3-sunos510
In order to facilitate an easy transition for users, both gcc 3 and gcc 4 will be supported and distributed in release 6.2. Since support for 64-bit SystemC on linux_x86_64 was added in release 6.2, linux_x86_64 will only be supported with the gcc 4.0.2 release. The following versions are supported in 6.2: gcc-3.3.1-mingw32 gcc-4.0.2-linux_x86_64 gcc-3.2.3-rhe21 gcc-4.0.2-rhe21 gcc-3.3-sunos58 gcc-3.3-sunos59 gcc-3.3-sunos510
The is no change on the hp700 platform and it will continue to be supported with aCC 3.45. QuickThreads is now the default thread for SystemC co-routines. Our tests show that QuickThreads has better reliability than PThread (the OSCI-default) on linux_x86_64 and has better performance in certain cases. As a result, QuickThreads is now the default SystemC thread for all platforms that support SystemC. C Debug compatibility information by platform. On HP-UX 11.0, the built-in HP wdb 3.3 program is used as the underlying C/C++ debugger. In order to run wdb successfully, you must have installed HP-UX PHSS_23842, or a superseding patch. Without this patch installed, error messages will occur during C Debug startup. On rs6000, gdb-6.0 works with gcc-3.2. Additionally, when creating shared objects, 'ld' (/bin/ld) should be used, not 'gcc'. This combination works with AIX-5.1. On AIX-5.1 use gcc-3.2-aix51. The native compiler /bin/cc is not compatible with gdb-6.0. On Solaris OS 10, C Debug is supported as of the 6.2e release.
PRODUCT SUPPORT The LE product does not support VHDL. However, it does support Verilog and SystemC. This release includes a new dongle driver installer for Windows. The new dongle driver versions that will be installed are as follows: Aladdin (FLEXID=9-) driver version 4.96 Dallas (FLEXID=8-) driver version 3.2.1.11 Sentinel (FLEXID=6-)/(FLEXID=7-) driver version 5.41
The new dongle driver installer will install these drivers only if they are newer than the currently installed dongle drivers on your Windows system. COMPILATION COMPATIBILITY You must recompile or refresh your models if you are moving forward from 6.2x or earlier release versions. See "Regenerating your design libraries" in the User's Manual for more information on refreshing your models. The format of the library contents file (_info file) has been changed for the purpose of improved compiler performance. The new format is not backwards compatible with previous releases. Consequently, any attempt to refresh or recompile a 6.3 library with an older release will result in an error similar to the following: ** Error: (vcom-42) Unsupported ModelSim library format for "./work". (Format: 3). Converting the library back to an older release requires that you remove the library and rebuild it from scratch. Or, if you are converting back to a 6.2 release only, then you can convert the library format to the 6.2 format and then freely refresh back and forth between 6.2 and 6.3 releases. Use the 6.3 version of vlib to convert the format to the 6.2 version using the -format option. For example:vlib -format 1 work The format version for pre-6.3 releases is 1, while the format version for 6.3 is 3. Format version 2 is related to libraries created with the -archive option and should be avoided when specifying the vlib -format option. In some complex circumstances the code generated for SystemVerilog packages with vlog versions 6.2 through 6.2d caused compilation or simulation problems. If the design imports a SystemVerilog package that was compiled with a previous version and which contains potentially incorrect code, the user will be required to refresh or recompile the package. If a VHDL model contains signal declarations using signal kinds BUS or REGISTER or port declarations using kind BUS then that model may produce misleading error messages if it was compiled with a 6.2b or earlier compiler. If such a model is simulated with the current simulator, the following incorrect error message is produced in certain cases:# ** Fatal: (vsim-3992) Illegal assignment of null waveform in a subprogram to a non-guarded actual 'mux_out'. To avoid this misleading error messages recompile the model with the current compiler. The vcom compiler default language has been changed from VHDL-1987 to VHDL-2002. To choose a specific language version: select the appropriate version from the compiler options menu in the GUI, invoke vcom using switches -87, -93, or -2002, or set the VHDL93 variable in the [vcom] section of modelsim.ini.Appropriate values for VHDL93 are: 0, 87, or 1987 for VHDL-1987; 1, 93, or 1993 for VHDL-1993; 2, 02, or 2002 for VHDL-2002.
LICENSINGThe 6.3 release uses the following licensing versions: FLEXnet v10.8; Mentor Graphics Licensing MGLS v2007.1 and PCLS 2007.057. For this release of the product, the FLEXnet licensing software being used is version 10.8. For floating licenses it will be necessary to verify that the vendor daemon (i.e., mgcld) and the license server (i.e., lmgrd) have FLEXnet versions equal to or greater than 10.8. The vendor daemons and lmgrd that are shipped with this release will be FLEXnet version 10.8. If the current FLEXnet version of your vendor daemon and lmgrd are less than 10.8 then it will be necessary to stop your license server and restart it using the vendor daemon and lmgrd contained in this release. If you use node locked licenses you don't need to do anything. Products with licenses created after October 23rd, 2006 use the following license versions: FLEXnet v10.8 MGLS v2007.1 PCLS 2007.057
GENERAL INFORMATION The vlog, vcom and vopt command line options are now case sensitive which makes them consistent with the vsim command line options. The default time unit for SystemC can be set using the "ScTimeUnit" variable in the modelsim.ini file. By default ScTimeUnit is set to 1 ns. The default time unit in SystemC can also be set using the sc_set_default_time_unit() function before any time based object like sc_clock or sc_time is created. SystemVerilog Program blocks are now supported except for the $exit() task. Starting in the 6.1 release, the vsim -dpiexportobj option has changed behavior. This primarily affects Windows and AIX platforms. The changes are listed below: An extension is now automaticly added to the object filename. There is no longer a need to add "-c -do 'quit -f'" to the vsim -dpiexportobj command line.
The examples/systemverilog/dpi/simple_calls runtest.bat files have been modified to show the correct flow. Beginning in the 5.8 release, SDF files compressed in the Unix compress format (.Z) are no longer supported, but the GNU zip format (.gz)is supported. Therefore, we only read in compressed SDF files that are created with the GNU zip (gzip) extension. A file is not require to have a .gz extension, but it will error on files that have a .Z extension. Beginning with the 5.6 release (on Windows platforms only), attempts to link in libvsim.lib or tk83.lib using the Microsoft Visual C++ linker version 5.0 will fail with a message similar to: "Invalid file or disk full: cannot seek to 0xaa77b00". Microsoft Visual C++ version 6.0 does not have this problem. Acrobat reader version 4.0 or greater must be used to read any .pdf file contained in version 5.5c or greater. The following browsers are unsupported for the HTML documentation: Netscape versions 4.x and 6.x Opera versions 6.x and 7.x
We regret we cannot support these browsers for use with the HTML documentation. We recommend upgrading to a new browser:Sun Solaris: Upgrade to Mozilla:
HPUX: Upgrade to Mozilla:
Linux: Upgrade to Mozilla:
Windows: Upgrade to Netscape 7.2 or newer, Internet Explorer, or Mozilla:
AVMAVM 3.0 is now integrated into 6.3 release of the simulator. The SystemVerilog libraries are delivered in compiled form. Users no longer have to compile or link to special libraries; they only need to import avm_pkg::*; (as they always have) to use the AVM facilities. The default library search path includes the compiled AVM libraries. In addition to the compiled form, the source code for the compiled libraries is delivered in /verilog_src/avm. If you compile the AVM source into your own libraries, that will take precedence of the pre-compiled form. The 6.3 product only supports the AVM 2.0 Update 2 and AVM 3.0 releases; it does not support AVM 2.0 and 2.0 Update 1 releases. Please note that in February 2007, there was a change in the naming scheme of the AVM release. AVM 2.0a has been renamed AVM 2.0 update 1. The contents of both releases are the same. Below is a matrix illustrating the compatibility between the simulator and the different AVM releases. QuestaSim Version AVM Version 6.2 through 6.2d 2.0 update 1 6.2e, 6.2f, 6.2g 2.0 update 1 6.3 2.0 update 2 and 3.0User Interface Defects Repaired in 6.3 After hiding all toolbars, the area that holds the toolbars collapsed to just a few pixels. This area contained the only menu for changing the toolbar visibility, making it difficult to unhide toolbars once they had all been closed. There is now a toolbars sub menu under the windows pulldown, which is identical to the popup menu. There were several issues dealing with window visiblity changes while a window was maximized. Minimizing the window would not return the GUI to the expected state. Changing window visiblity will now automatically minimize a maximized window and the resulting window visibility is correct. Under certain circumstance the add wave command did not issue an error when no signals were found. This occurred when the -r (recursive) switch was used. Now the command will always return an error if no signals are found. In an undocked Memory window, if the edit in place box was opened, most of the menu picks resulted in an error if the edit in place box was not closed. The WLF file reader now returns an error message if the file appears corrupt rather then exiting the tool with an assertion. Better checking for legal dataset name prior to opening or renaming a dataset. (A legal dataset name must contain only alphanumeric characters and underscores.) Changing the column width within the Locals window collapsed all expanded items. The expansion state is now retained on a column resize. The Visibility column in the Structure window incorrectly specifies limited visibility when using the -novopt option. When undocked, commands issued through the profile find toolbar could be applied to the wrong window. The profile find toolbar now applies the find operation to the correct window. Added the ability to overwrite existing files in the project directory. To avoid confusion with "extended VCD" the -map and -nomap options to VCD commands now print "enhanced VCD" in the VCD file header. The vsim -printsimstats option was not working. Using the CTRL-S shortcut to save new files on Windows did not change the Source window title. The GUI crashed in waveform creation of a signed reg signal. Expanding a ref struct variable did not expand its value in the Locals window. When printing the contents of the the Wave window, the dialog that reports the progress will incorrectly report the total number of pages. The dialog will show something like "Printing page 4 of 3". Now the correct number of pages are printed and the footer of the print out will contain correct information. An array instance path in a virtual signal expression failed. The coverage command accepted multiple -instance options, but only use the last one. This was changed so that an error message is given if more than one -instance option is specified. Interface contents were not always visible. In the Source window, lines were no longer shown as executable once a source file was edited using an external editor. Line numbers were not updating when scrolling using the middle mouse button. Code Coverage windows are now updated properly immediately following elaboration. Changing context is no longer required to refresh the coverage windows. Loading a design with code coverage, then, without existing modelsim and loading another design without coverage would produce errors. Coverage windows were requesting coverage data that did not exist. Coverage windows are now sensitive to whether the design has code coverage turned on or not. Wave window Find Previous Transition and Find Next Transition searches, for searches that required a relatively long time to perform, could crash the front end when another search was attempted while a search was ongoing. Such searches are now ignored when a search is underway. Search attempts are also ignored when the active cursor is locked (including the Now cursor). Coverage filenames that contained a hyphen ('-') character could not be successfully read using the vsim -viewcov command. On Windows, invoking the File->Save As... menu pick from an undocked Transcript window caused the Main window to be activiated. Now, the Transcript window stays on top. The Dataflow window did not use the namespace portion of object names passed to it. A delayed virtual signal could not be logged or added as a trigger to the List window.
Verilog Defects Repaired in 6.3 Array manipulator methods previously produced incorrect errors when used inside class tasks and functions. Previously, the simulator did not do type-checking for connections to ports declared as enums. An error message is now printed during elaboration if the actual value is not of the same enum type. The multiplier in a replicate expression was allowed to be non-constant when the inner concat was not a string concat. We now allow the multiplier to be variable only when the inner concat is a string concat. There is now a semantic difference for assignment to and from a string variable. Now, we require a cast for assigning a packed or unpacked variable to a string variable. For example: bit [0:2] bit_p; string s; s = bit_p; // illegal s = string'(bit_p); // legal Pending